


The Christmas Spirit Case

by Huntress79



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe - Federal Agents, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Alternate Universe - Police, Christmas, Detective Bucky Barnes, FBI Agent Steve Rogers, M/M, Mistletoe, Peggy and Sharon are sisters here
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-25
Updated: 2019-12-25
Packaged: 2021-02-17 22:42:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,608
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21950878
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Huntress79/pseuds/Huntress79
Summary: When Detective James “Bucky“ Barnes agreed to having  the FBI on board with their latest case, he didn’t expect that to happen, at least on Christmas Eve.
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes & Sam Wilson, James "Bucky" Barnes/Steve Rogers, Peggy Carter/Daniel Sousa (Background), Pepper Potts/Tony Stark (background)
Comments: 6
Kudos: 40
Collections: Stucky Secret Santa 2019





	The Christmas Spirit Case

**Author's Note:**

  * For [The_Omni_Princess](https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Omni_Princess/gifts).



> written for the Stucky Secret Santa and the-omni-princess. Set in a no power AU. Enjoy!

*********************

Right from the beginning, the case was forming up to be one of the strange ones. That much did Detective James “Bucky” Barnes, his partner Sam Wilson and their Captain Carol Danvers know. But apart from that, the case just didn’t want to be solved in an appropriate manner of time.

Starting point was a reported theft. Virginia Potts told them that, for reasons unknown to her, several boxes of vegan cookies were stolen from her pantry. Cookies that were supposed to end up at the annual Christmas Gala of Stark Enterprises.

Bucky, Sam, and several CSI’s went over her whole apartment with the finest proverbial comb they had at their disposal, but found not even a trace of any kind of evidence. Which was unusual, but had happened before. Some thieves really knew how NOT to leave any evidence behind.

And until said thief would slip up somehow, or a coincidence would lead them somehow to the offender, they couldn’t do anything, no matter how much eyeballing they all would get from both Ms. Potts and her boyfriend, none other than Tony Stark himself.

*********************

Almost a week later, they all were on their latest crime scene. Phil Coulson, owner of a little toy shop, reported the apparent theft of several nutcracker figurines, along with two handmade angel statues almost the size of Bucky’s calves, as Phil explained with a soft smile. Sure, he was heartbroken that the shop had survived without any incident for so long, only to have something like that happening now, and that the thief had to grab the angels, but he also told Bucky that the world outside his shop had to face much worse, and still the sun would get up in the morning, and with that a new chance to do something right.

Crime Scene 2 turned out as empty on evidences as Crime Scene 1 did, and so, Bucky had to tell Phil that they had to shelf his case for the time being, but that as soon as they had even the tiniest sliver of an evidence that could be connected to his case, they would pull it up immediately. Phil only smiled, stating that he went to church the night after the theft, and that he had faith in the Lord that he would “punish” the perpetrator in a way only He could.

Still, the two open theft cases were talk of the station, at least between Bucky, Sam, Clint, Carol and both Maria, their resident Medical Examiner, and Shuri, their young, quirky lab tech. More than once since the second theft, they were spread out in the small conference room of their station, diving into take-out while discussing the two strange cases.

*********************

_Another week, another case_ , Bucky thought dryly when he got out of his car right outside of a new crime scene, this time over in Queens. Sam was already there, and if the slightly spooked expression on his face was anything to count for, they again had hit the jackpot for crazy cases.

“So, what’s been stolen this time?” Bucky asked while joining his partner at the front door to a small brownstone.

“Just head in, and ask for May Parker. You wouldn’t believe it if I was telling you.”

Bucky did as told – and he really did a double take when the lovely Mrs. Parker told them with tears in her eyes that a thief was in their house last night, only to pass all the other valuables and grab the only thing she had left of her grandmother, a wooden Christmas crib. According to May, it wasn’t even very valuable, since the figurines were old and chipped, and missing two of the characters at least.

While Peter, her nephew, took over and led May up the stairs to her bedroom for a much-needed nap, Bucky went back to Sam, who was watching Clint and Shuri doing their job.

“Okay, I really wouldn’t have believe you.” Sam only gave a hum. “And like it or not, but I have a feeling that these thefts are connected.”

That finally got Sam to turn his gaze around to Bucky.

“What makes you think so?” Sam asked, his voice calm and collected, as if Bucky was the witness to a crime, not his partner for the past six years.

“Can’t really nail it down, just a feeling. Sorry, man,” Bucky answered with a shrug, hating that he had no better answer for Sam.

“It’s okay, man, at least one of us has anything at all.” He clapped him on the shoulder. “Me, on the other side, just sees the crime scenes and takes the statements and knows all the time that he’s somewhat in over his head.”

“No, you’re not,” Shuri piped up from the side, startling both detectives. Pulling the gloves off her hands, she came up to them. “This case is, even from my perspective, the craziest I’ve ever seen. And after our last nightly round robin, I called my brother in Oakland, of course without giving away any details. I just asked him of the craziest case he ever had, and the one he told me about was nothing, compared to what we have here.” She took a sip from one of the water bottles Peter had provided for them. “I only hope that whoever this thief is, he or she won’t escalate.” She saw both detectives nodding. “I mean, it’s just close to Christmas, we don’t need a guest in the morgue around this time of year, at least not one with a violent death.”

With that, the young lab tech was back at Clint’s side, discussing with him what or if they had found anything at all. Judging by the twin frowns on their faces, both Bucky and Sam didn’t have a lot of hope.

*********************

When they arrived back at the precinct, Carol was in a bad mood. Not too bad, since she didn’t yell at them, but bad enough that they all got the “Air Force Stare”. Around lunch, she asked both Bucky and Sam to come with her. Both men exchanged a look. She wouldn’t go and suspend any of them because of three open cases, would she?

As it turned out, she had a long talk with Chief Nick Fury, and like in all the other times they had immediate contact, they clashed. Just a little bit, according to Carol, but still enough to send her mood to the basement, so to speak.

But, since Stark was one of the mayor’s favorites and there was an election coming up in the new year, said mayor had made some pressure to get the cases closed. Now, Bucky and Sam knew that you couldn’t put pressure on Nick Fury and live to tell the tale. Instead, the chief suggested to bring in the FBI – maybe a fresh pair of eyes could help.

You could see it in her eyes that Captain Carol Danvers was anything but happy about that turn of events, but she also knew that Nick was, more or less, saving their jobs. These days, having a police force that, in the eyes of the public, fails to solve even the easiest cases, can be a huge damper on any politician’s ambitions.

*********************

And so, two days later, Bucky came into the precinct from a quick brunch with his sister to see two new faces sitting in the conference room with Captain Danvers.

“Hey man,” Sam said when he came up to him, “I was about to text you. The FBI people are here.” He threw a thumb over his shoulder in the general direction of the conference room. “Cap told me she would give them what we have on file so far, but we both will have to share our notes on the cases as well.”

“Yeah, I figured that much after Carol told us about the Chief’s idea,” Bucky replied while stashing both his travel cup and a small bag at his desk, “given that we, more or less, have nothing ‘official’ on any of the cases.”

Before Sam could come up with a reply of his own, the door to the conference room opened, and while Bucky took a peripheral notice of Captain Danvers coming out first, his eyes were trained on the giant behind her.

Cause that was the only word to describe the man. Tall, Bucky would guess about his own size, but the impressive bulk of muscles visible even through the suit made him look way taller. Dark blond hair, in a rather nice fashion (not that Bucky was that big of an expert about this, at all). And… gosh – the bluest eyes he ever had seen in his life.

“Detectives,” Carol began, and Bucky was never more thankful for all the military training he had received earlier in his life than right now. Otherwise, he might have jumped just a little bit (and embarrassed himself on top of it). “These are FBI special agents Natasha Romanov,” only then Bucky did notice the rather petite redhead standing next to the giant, “and Steven Rogers.”

Said man struck out a hand, shaking first Sam’s, then Bucky’s hand. “It’s nice to have some faces going with the names in the case reports.”

“Likewise,” Bucky got out, though he hadn’t heard the names before.

Carol, unperturbed by the moment, continued with her introductions. “Agents, these are the detectives working the cases, Sam Wilson and James Barnes.”

Natasha gave them both a quick nod before turning to Carol.

“Your case files mention a CSI and a lab tech as well?”

“Yes, Clint Barton, who’s the CSI, and Shuri, our lab tech. I’ll tell them to get their own notes ready for you, should you need them.”

“That would be nice, Captain.”

*********************

Some hours later, Bucky felt a headache coming up, quickly. They went over the case files several times with the FBI agents, along with their own notes, and those of Clint and Shuri. But so far, not even the federal agents could see any new angle that might solve that trifecta on the spot.

“Hey, Detective?”

And here was another (possible) reason for aforementioned headache. Steve was, apart from being a federal agent, every fantasy Bucky ever had about a man in the flesh. Paired with a voice that sent shivers down Bucky’s spine every time Agent Rogers opened his mouth, and Bucky was doomed for the rest of his life.

“Yeah, Agent, you need anything?”

Steve ducked his head, and gosh, was he blushing? What on Earth had Bucky done in a past life to be tormented like that now?

“To be honest – you.” Bucky almost did a double take, even though he was sitting. But before he could come up with anything, Steve honest-to-God stammered on. “Not exactly in relation to the cases, though. I… I wanted to ask you if you want to show a guy around, especially where to find something decent to eat.”

“Sure,” Bucky agreed before he could really think about it. Apparently, he had no sense of self-preservation at all.

He took Steve to one of his favorite diners near the precinct. Peggy, the owner, gave them a wave from the kitchen, and Sharon, Peggy’s baby sister and head waitress, put two cups of coffee on their table before they were even seated properly.

“Now that’s a service you don’t see everywhere,” Steve wondered out loud, giving Sharon a blinding smile.

“Hey, Buck, long time no see!” Daniel Sousa called down from the other end of the bar, where he was working on one of the appliances. “Ooh, you brought a new face here,” he exclaimed when he spotted Steve.

“Yeah, I know it’s risky to do so, so you all better behave and don’t scare him off within the first 10 minutes we’re here, you hear me?” Bucky gave back, falling into the old banter with Peggy’s husband easily.

“Why, Detective,” Sharon put in her own two cents with just a hint of seduction in her voice, “are you going to arrest us otherwise?”

“Maybe,” Bucky shrugged. “Let’s just say it’s not out of the realm of possibilities.”

Peggy’s chuckle coming out of the kitchen effectively broke the spell, and Sharon sauntered back to the counter, returning with a menu for Steve. Who raised an eyebrow when she didn’t hand one to Bucky as well. “None for the detective?”

“Nope,” Daniel piped up, “Bucky’s been here so many times, he probably knows our whole menu better than any of us.”

As it turned out, Steve needed quite a lot of food to keep his body going. Peggy certainly didn’t mind, neither did Sharon or Daniel. And if he was honest, Bucky also didn’t.

Between bites, Bucky also learned a bit about Steve. Like the fact that he was a born New Yorker, grew up in Brooklyn (just like Bucky himself), that he initially wanted to become an artist, but chose to follow his late father in his footsteps and become a federal agent instead. Or that up until his late teens, Steve was a walking talking stick figure with, according to his own mom, the heart of a lion.

*********************

The following days of joint investigation were a carbon copy of that first one – looking at the cases from every possible (and even more impossible) angle; lunch at the diner, rinse and repeat. And without anyone really noticing, it suddenly was Christmas Day.

If not for the fact that Sam was finishing up early, trying to catch a plane down to Washington in order to spend the holidays with his family. He did a grand round through the whole precinct, wishing everyone “Happy Holidays” and was out of the building in a new record time.

Some time later, Clint also vanished somehow (and with him, suspiciously, Agent Romanov), and suddenly, it was only Bucky and Steve left in the bullpen.

“So, any plans for Christmas?” Bucky asked. He already had scheduled with Rebecca that they would meet whenever she was back in town between two photoshoots. Being a famous photographer brought that along, but Bucky was too proud of her to complain.

“Nope,” Steve answered while sitting down in Sam’s vacant seat, tiredness emanating from him. Despite the larger manpower, they hadn’t made any progress at all on the cases. “What about you?”

“Same here, pal. Parents are dead for some time now, and my sister is currently traveling through the whole of Southeast Asia, for her job.” Bucky leaned back in his chair. “So we’re gonna celebrate a quick version of Christmas whenever she’s back in town. Probably at some point after New Year.”

“You don’t seem to mind, though.”

“No, not at all. Quite the contrary, I’ll gladly take a backseat to her career. We grew up in a blue collar neighbourhood, but still, our parents supported us with everything they could when it came to follow our dreams and get the jobs we really want.”

“Sounds a lot like my mother,” Steve replied with a soft voice.

“So what do you say to ditching this place and head somewhere else?” Bucky suggested while getting up and starting to pack up.

“Any ideas where to?”

“I might have, one or two.”

*********************

As it turned out, Bucky only had one place in mind – his apartment. Though he had no explanation for the mistletoe hanging in the doorway of his front door, or how it had gotten there in the first place. But when Steve suddenly crowded him in said doorway and laid a Hollywood-like kiss on him, Bucky certainly didn’t spare a thought on that sprig anymore.

*********************

The End

*********************


End file.
